On our way, arriving in Budapest Hungary

Tuesday May 28

Yes,  today is the day. We wake up and spend the morning packing and arranging. I have the feeling I might have forgotten something but hope it is not something vital. Ha-ha, Maren will be surprised. This parcel was sent to her before Christmas but the post office decided to not deliver it but bring it all the way back. I decided to put it into the suitcase.

I also have a great big fat envelope in the suitcase with the quilted Cotton Robin (see the "my lace and quilt blog" tab on top - blog coming in July) which happens to go to England. Kate (the recipient) decided it was safer to be past the deadline but not mail it over the ocean. This year things kept getting lost (took their time) but luckily did show up at the end.

Our neighbor and friend Jack called in the morning and insisted that they would be at our house at 1:30 pm to bring us to the airport. We have the best friends. We laughed all the way.

Check in, security, everything went well but at the gate after a while when they just had announced that they would start boarding we got the bad news that our plane had a problem and was going to the hanger to be repaired. The new time would surely make us miss our connection. We were re-routed. Instead of Philadelphia we were going to Charlotte. But that plane was a little later too so right next to that gate was a place for some libation. Goodness gracious, was that Bloody Mary spicy. And so was the bill.

Finally. I had a great view onto the city of Richmond with all those bridges over the James River and the rapids. Unfortunately it was not photogenic. 

We had quite a long lay-over in Charlotte so were able to go into the Admirals Club. Ha-ha, no bill here. The Parmesan Kale Soup with Italian Sausage was just right for me. Plenty of other snacks and complimentary red wine and Wi-Fi.

If you have to kill time it's easier to do when it is in a nicer place. We could talk with Helen and take care of some emails etc.

Finally. The long flight to London Heathrow. When James had booked the flights last fall he got an incredible good special offer for business class. Only a bit more than regular. Ha, we didn't have to think about that twice. And oh, was it nice.

Not your typical airline food. Crisp veggies and incredibly tender and juicy meat. Oh well ...

Passionfruit Cheesecake. Do I need to say more. Most of the time desserts are not really worth the calories but this ...

It was a night flight of course. James didn't have any complaints. Comforter and all.

Even I slept. And here is breakfast. You had a choice of fruit platter or quiche Lorraine. I chose the fruit platter and it came with granola and yoghurt. And a good cuppa (tea).

We landed at Terminal 3 and had to hurry. Heathrow is huge. Since the next flight was a British Airline one James knew we had to go to Terminal 5. You have to take a bus and it is quite a way. When we were there we saw on the big board that there was a Terminal change. Really? Terminal 3. O.k., waiting for the bus again, driving over and then walking, walking to the gate. Did I say that Heathrow is huge? We just made it though. Our tickets said we were boarding group 1 but the gate lady saw my cane (which I had taken with me just in case) and "insisted" for us to go ahead with a group of Zimmer frames etc. I felt really funny about that. Were these people flying to a "Marigold hotel" situation?

I would have had a nice view taking off over Windsor but ...

Saw a load of British Aways planes at Terminal 5 though.

The seats were incredibly close together. The only difference between regular and business class was that the third seat in the middle was blocked with a tray so you felt that you had a wider seat. But standing up was a chore. 

The meal was nice though. We even got menus and were asked to choose. I had British roast chicken supreme, sweetcorn mash, kale, green beans.

Finally we arrive in Budapest. Several hours later then original scheduled. Our tour-guide Monica had contacted us by email a few days ago and gave us advice how to get to our hotel. We went to the shuttle place (miniBUD) and booked it. 5,936 Hungarian Forint (HUF) which is about $26. She told us to expect to wait 15 to 20 minutes. Not bad (so we thought). 

There were some metal benches and monitors were we would see when our ticket number would show up with the minibus number. Except ...

... an hour later we were quite upset. No minivan had shown up for us yet even though we kind of had inquired several times and promises were made. 

Finally it came. Of course there were already other people in it but we knew that's how it is. We had nice chats and were the second stop to be dropped off, just when it had started to rain.

We checked in. 

Our hotel Clark Budapest (Clark Ádám tér 1., 01. Budavár, Budapest, 1013, Hungary) is very nice and in a great location.

 We got settled, showered etc and decided we did need to go out of the room for just a little while. It was already 8 pm but too early to go to sleep. And a little snack would be nice too. The hotel bar/restaurant downstairs looked very nice but there was no table available. So we got the Restaurant ZONA "across the street" recommended and James got our raincoats from the room.

Well, I am not sure what "across the street" means in Hungary but we did find it and didn't even get badly wet. We ended up really liking that place. The food was outstanding. I had the Mangalica goulash and James the Veal tenderloin which we were told was made the Hungarian way. Yes, outstanding. Especially with a glass of Konyári Jánosbeg yì kékfrankos!

Ha-ha, taking a photo of James taking a photo. He is doing it now too. Oh my...

My goulash was not what I had expected. We are still joking about "the brick" but as I said, it was so delicious. And not "bricky" at all.

And the place had atmosphere. Look at all those bottle bottoms.

It dribbled just a little bit and it wasn't far to walk back. But here is a bridge over the Danube.

A tunnel (?)

Our hotel.

The intersection / bridge from the hotel door.

Time to turn the light off. We can hear the rain falling outside.